Press cards designed to stop fakers

By Wang Qian (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-12 07:46

New press passes with improved anti-counterfeiting features will be issued to journalists from February, the General Administration of Press and Publication said Thursday.

As well as the existing watermarks and gravure prints, the new cards will incorporate metal identification strips, Nong Tao, a press official with the administration said.

"The advanced features will make it extremely difficult for the cards to be faked. The cards will also help certify journalists' legal rights to conduct interviews," he said.

The passes will be redesigned every five years to keep up to date with the latest anti-counterfeiting features, he said.

Samples of the new cards will be posted on government news portal www.zgjx.cn next month, Nong said.

Members of the public and interviewees can also continue to validate the identities of journalists by entering their press pass registration numbers on he government's news website, he said.

Press passes are issued to journalists from approved media organizations as legal identification and accreditation. They also give holders free access to certain venues, such as parks and tourist attractions.

The introduction of the new design comes after a string of cases involving fake cards.

On Nov 8, Beijing police arrested six people who masqueraded as journalists and sold fake press cards, a circular from the Beijing municipal public security bureau said on Wednesday.

Early last month, police also raided the office of the China Legal Watch website, after hearing reports that its staff had been selling fake press cards, the circular said.

Sixty-nine fake passes were found in the office, it said.

Two people involved in the case were arrested in Luoyang, Henan province, on Nov 24, it said.

The fake reporters had allegedly blackmailed the Henan and Yunnan provincial governments by asking for hush money to cover up an alleged mine accident in Dongsheng, Henan, the circular said.

Police subsequently recovered more than 100,000 yuan ($14,600) from the counterfeiting group, while those involved have been detained for forging official certificates and fraud, the circular said.

Counterfeit press cards can change hands for up to 15,000 yuan, it said.

In a separate case, the Beihai press and publication bureau in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region busted a counterfeiting ring on Nov 18 that allegedly charged 3,680 yuan for fake Hong Kong press cards, the Xinhua News Agency reported over two weeks ago.

"The new cards are a good attempt by the administration to crack down on fake journalists and cards," Sun Zaohua, an official from the All-China Journalists' Association, said.